Phia, a shopping app co-founded by Phoebe Gates that has raised $43.5M, appears to be using fake clicks or “cookie stuffing” to claim affiliate commissions
Bloomberg
Context & Ripple Effects
The related coverage places Phia’s alleged conduct in a recurring digital-fraud problem: a prior investigation documented a large network of apps and sites using ad-fraud tactics, while more recent reports have scrutinized startups over the reliability of their claimed commercial activity.
Phia’s reported $43.5M funding makes the allegation consequential beyond one shopping app. If affiliate tracking has been manipulated, the issue reaches the merchants and networks that rely on click attribution to decide which partners earn commissions.
First-order effects
Merchants and affiliate networks may need to review transactions attributed to Phia and determine whether commissions tied to allegedly fabricated clicks should be withheld, reversed, or repaid.
Phia faces an immediate credibility and oversight test with its commercial partners and backers, because the report concerns the mechanism through which an affiliate-shopping product is paid.
Second-order effects
Affiliate programs may tighten validation of click-to-purchase paths, increasing scrutiny of app-based referral partners and potentially delaying or reducing payouts while traffic is reviewed.
Competing shopping and deal-discovery apps could face more demanding disclosure and measurement requirements as merchants seek to distinguish legitimate referrals from attributed traffic of uncertain origin.
Third-order effects
If repeated cases expose weaknesses in affiliate attribution, commission models may shift toward more independently verifiable, outcome-based measurement rather than relying primarily on browser or app click tracking.
The pattern joins broader pressure for investors, platforms, and commerce partners to treat growth and revenue claims as controls-and-verification questions, not just marketing metrics; whether that produces durable industry standards depends on enforcement by networks and merchants.
The trend: Affiliate commerce is moving toward tougher verification of how customer referrals are created and credited as fraud allegations make attribution itself a business-risk issue.
Time to look at how Phia is probably getting the shopping data through unofficial Google Shopping APIs. I am not 100% sure but last I checked, it appeared to show Google Shopping data. Could be through a third party scraper like SERP API, which has become common practice with
Wow. Great Investigation from @oliviasolon @jeffykao and Priyanjana Bengani on how Phia, a startup founded by Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe, takes $$ from other outlets (e.g. Wirecutter) by surreptitiously injecting its affiliate code into transactions it didn't actually generate. …
The thing with Phia too is the founders seem to spend a significant amount of their time running a podcast I'm more convinced a lot of Gen Z wants to play pretend founder & are shooting for fame & attention instead of all the brick by brick work
> Phia was launched by Phoebe Gates, 23, and friend Sophia Kianni in 2025. Why is it always the high-flying, flashy newly-grad founders who do this shit? I understand being impatient. It's an important trait of any good founder. But it seems like some group of Stanford/MIT [image…
Shopping plugin Phia is forcing clicks and dishonoring stand-down. Clear violations of affiliate network rules. My article provides video and packet log evidence. https://www.benedelman.org/...
So let me get this straight... It ran tasks in the background, erased website cookies, and made it seem for the ecommerce stores that all traffic is from Phia? Tell me how that is not malware/spyware. [image]
First thing Phia needs to do is stop using this dumb excuse that it was a random glitch they were just “made aware” about Nobody's buying that. And when you have a crisis of trust, the worst thing you can do is strain credibility further Second is get founders to quit hiding
Buzzy shopping app Phia, founded by Phoebe Gates, (Bill's daughter) took credit for sales it didn't influence, our testing found. It also replaced other referrers' affiliate codes in violation of stand-down policies. With @acookiecrumbles & @jeffykao https://www.bloomberg.com/...
GM, a quick video of how coupon app @Phiaco_ runs its scam (and some content on how and why below). 1. A user goes to @dupeapp to find their next fav product (imagine this is your fav YouTube creator doing the hard work of driving a click after painstakingly making content) 2. [v…
I've known Phoebe Gates online since she was a teen, so I might be biased but nothing in the Bloomberg reporting shows she personally engaged in wrongdoing. Phia's browser extension opening background tabs and inserting affiliate codes comes from technical implementation choices
When Bill Gates was 23, he had bootstrapped Microsoft with zero VC funding, and was generating $7M of ARR in 2026 dollars Meanwhile, his daughter is lying about KPIs after raising a $35M Series A from a list of investors that looked like a Coachella billboard Incredible stuff
This is just horrendous. You have a mediocre app to begin with which got funded likely because of nepotism. Then it has to cheat and steal from other apps and from vendors in the millions. Why aren't people outraged by this? https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Phia, the AI shopping app founded by Bill Gates' daughter, is claiming credit for online sales it didn't actually drive, a Bloomberg investigation found. …